In the next hour, Hear Me Out looks at the challenges facing farmers in Wisconsin.
The number of farm bankruptcies has more than doubled in the last four years, according to a recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. And, 50 out of the 84 farms that filed for Chapter 12 bankruptcy across the Upper Midwest over the last year were here in Wisconsin.
In this hour, we hear from Trisha Wagner. She’s the farm management program outreach coordinator for UW-Extension. Wagner talks about ways that farms are trying to diversify and find new revenue streams and an upcoming conference that seeks to make them more resilient to market changes.
Plus, we hear from UW-Extension Agriculture Educator Jane Anklam about what’s being done in Douglas County to preserve farms.
And, UW-Madison agronomy professor Chris Kucharik talks about what climate change may mean for Wisconsin farmers in years to come.